Hate wind. Really gets on my nerves.
Love caladiums. Grew them by the dozens in Florida, and made the annual trek
to Lake Placid (FL) every July for the festival, just to see what new ones had
entered the marketplace. I've still got a tank-top somewhere from the 2001
festival. First ones I got were from the compost heap at the nursery. They
been used as ground cover around our offices, and then were changed out with
something (I forget). Anyway, I gathered a couple of handsful off the compost
heap and took them home. I couldn't plant them right away, so I dumped them in
a big tub of potting mix in the lathhouse. On the weekend, I fished them out
of the potting mix and planted them hither and yon and pretty much forgot
about them.
Now, ya gotta know that caladiums reproduce (mostly) vegetatively--by offsets.
And apparently clinging to the roots of the plants I salvaged were a great
number of very small offsets, because nearly everything I potted up with the
mix in that tub, ended up sooner of later having a baby caladium for company.
On May 28, 2013, at 3:43 PM, Johnson, Cyndi D Civ USAF AFMC 412 CS/SCOSI
wrote:
> I grew caladiums for the first time last year. Happiness Farms offered to
> send me a free sample after I listed them on my website. I wasn't
expecting
> much because most of those moisture loving tropicals just shrivel and die
> here even with water. But they grew really well in pots on my patio, and
the
> watering chore wasn't excessive. I tried some in the ground, in a spot
where
> a fern does pretty well, but they only managed a couple inches tall there.
> They looked so nice on the patio I ordered some this year too.
> I'm trying hanging pots as well. I always thought it would be too windy so
I
> never bothered before but in April I didn't want to lose the pots I'd hung
> in the greenhouse, so I thought what the heck. Miracles, they don't move
no
> matter how windy it is. Half my stuff on the ground is getting beat to
> death! However I am having a lot of trouble keeping them watered enough. I
> used that coir stuff with planting mix, but that lets them dry out too
much,
> I might need to line it with plastic and have drain holes instead.
>
> Cyndi
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-gardenchat@hort.net [mailto:owner-gardenchat@hort.net] On
Behalf
> Of Aplfgcnys@aol.com
> Sent: Tuesday, May 28, 2013 3:09 PM
> To: gardenchat@hort.net
> Subject: Re: [CHAT] Turn off the wind!
>
> Three days of rain here - followed by a sunny but cold day yesterday - not
> out of the low 50s. Today it is a bit milder - 64, but again rainy. We
> needed some rain but not this much - over six inches in the past week.
And
> it has been in the low 40s each night - not our usual spring weather.
> Crazy!
>
> I set out some tomato plants yesterday even though it was so cool - I hope
> they have been hardened off enough. I have peas up, but don't dare plant
> beans or squash yet.
> The ground is just not warm enough.
>
> I have ordered Caladium bulbs from a Florida wholesaler, and they came
> Friday. Most years they don't ship until after Memorial Day, so I was
> surprised to get them. I don't dare put them in the ground yet, for I know
> they don't like this much cold and wet.
> I get these every year for my garden club and other friends. I've always
> had great success with them.
>
> Auralie
>
>
>
> In a message dated 5/28/2013 5:49:10 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
gardenquee
> n@gmail.com writes:
>
> windy here too. I need to burn but can't w/ this wind.
>
>
> On Tue, May 28, 2013 at 3:19 PM, Zemuly <zemuly@comcast.net> wrote:
>
>> The weather here was ideal over the long weekend. It's supposed to
>> remain that way until rain is predicted for Thursday. I have no
>> complaints.
>>
>>
>> Sent from my iPhone
>>
>> On May 28, 2013, at 1:35 PM, "Johnson, Cyndi D Civ USAF AFMC 412
> CS/SCOSI"
>> <cyndi.johnson@edwards.af.mil> wrote:
>>
>>> We're having yet another wind event, this office is in a manufactured
>>> building and it's creaking and groaning all around me. They're saying
>>> gusts up to 70mph. I am so tired of wind. I don't even know if
> there's
>>> more or less than previous years, I just know I'd really like it to
>>> stop. There's dust everywhere inside, sand piles up in corners outside,
>>> my patio plants are tattered...argh. Someone turn off the fan please.
>>> I meant to get the roses deadheaded this weekend but that didn't
> happen,
>>> I lost momentum after stepping on a gopher snake in the garage. I
> think
>>> most of you are Facebook friends so you can read about it if you
> haven't
>>> already. I'm really glad we have never seen a rattler at my house. My
>>> friend at work asked where was my husband in all this? Well, he was
>>> loafing in the air chair in the backyard. After I shooed the snake out
> I
>>> walked back there, all frazzled, and he looks up and says "Was that you
>>> screaming?". I love him dearly but that was definitely a husband Fail.
>>> :-)
>>> Went into the vegetable garden Monday morning and the biggest tomato
>>> plant - 3 feet tall - was completely wilted. A gopher came up
>>> underneath, ate all the roots and six inches of the stem. In 20+ years
>>> of gardening I have never seen that. They do a lot of damage but
> never
>>> tomatoes! Husband set a trap and got him, I dug up a volunteer tomato
>>> out of a spot I haven't weeded yet and replanted, but I don't know if
>>> replanting was worth it or not. So far we've dispatched six rabbits,
>>> eight ground squirrels and five gophers and it's not even June. It's
>>> just astonishing how much damage the critters are doing this year, we
>>> are just not used to needing so much protection. I lost all the
> lettuce,
>>> most of the peas, half the beans, all the cilantro, four tomato plants
>>> so far; I've given up weeding near the melons, cucumbers and zucchini
>>> hoping the critters will not be able to find the plants among the
> weeds.
>>> On the plus side the corn looks pretty good and there are still 14
>>> tomato plants left. Picked the first zucchini on Sunday too. I haven't
>>> pulled back the row cover over the peppers but I peeked and they seem
>>> okay, I'll need to get in there to weed soon.
>>> I'm still looking for the perfect irrigation setup. I have been using
>>> that leaky hose, but it only lasts a couple years and isn't cheap. So I
>>> bought drip tape, which also was expensive but is supposed to last
>>> longer, and that didn't work at all. It puts out so little water that I
>>> had to run the sprinkler timers at the max time - 99 minutes - and even
>>> that wasn't enough. Decided it wasn't worth buying another controller
>>> to add watering times so I'm back to leaky hose. But now it's
> developing
>>> large holes where the critters are biting it trying to get water.
>>> Sigh...gonna be one of those years.
>>> I went riding twice this weekend, that was fun although the wind makes
>>> it rather gritty. I was so pleased with my horse River on Monday, our
>>> ride included a tunnel under the road. I got him last year but somehow
>>> we haven't tried a tunnel before. I didn't know what he would do and
> was
>>> anticipating a struggle, most horses don't like it. But he pricked up
>>> his ears and zipped through like he'd done it a million times, actually
>>> trying to get in front of the other horses to go through. I'm guessing
>>> he had very pleasant experiences in past either with tunnels or
>>> something like that, a dark barn passageway maybe, and at the end was
>>> his home or a treat. I'll have to try him with the tunnel under the
>>> freeway near us, it's much longer.
>>> Hope everyone's doing okay, no flooding or tornadoes.
>>>
>>> Cyndi
>
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